Snow Chains - Supplier?

[andy65b]

I use AutoSock on my car because my clearance on my ARX is not that great with Bilstein shocks.

[Angus Smart]

You dont need them for the stagea..

[andy65b]

You dont need them for the stagea..

you might not need them but you Legally have to carry them in your car..

[Stagea_Neo]

Ditto.

You dont need them for the stagea..

[Angus Smart]

you might not need them but you Legally have to carry them in your car..

4wd exempt.. unless that rule change that was ment to come in ages ago has finally come in.. i dont think it was going to happen tho.. it was ment to be all veichles must carry chains.. fwd rwd 4wd awd etc

i had a chat last year when i got pulled over and told i need them.

they couldnt work out what the car was, i said its "4/all wheel drive" showed them the snow/synchro button, and told him what it all does and i was told no wuckers mate, have a good day. " yeah sweet its snowing at wilsons valley, going to be a great day"

[Paramour]

4wd exempt.. unless that rule change that was ment to come in ages ago has finally come in.. i dont think it was going to happen tho.. it was ment to be all veichles must carry chains.. fwd rwd 4wd awd etc

i had a chat last year when i got pulled over and told i need them.

they couldnt work out what the car was, i said its "4/all wheel drive" showed them the snow/synchro button, and told him what it all does and i was told no wuckers mate, have a good day. " yeah sweet its snowing at wilsons valley, going to be a great day"

LOL . . .when a car has a "SNOW" setting, that's a good indication it's sweet to drive past your checkpoint . . .

[andy65b]

4wd exempt.. unless that rule change that was ment to come in ages ago has finally come in.. i dont think it was going to happen tho.. it was ment to be all veichles must carry chains.. fwd rwd 4wd awd etc

i had a chat last year when i got pulled over and told i need them.

they couldnt work out what the car was, i said its "4/all wheel drive" showed them the snow/synchro button, and told him what it all does and i was told no wuckers mate, have a good day. " yeah sweet its snowing at wilsons valley, going to be a great day"

You are correct that you do not fit them but has been the Law since I was a little boy that ALL vehicles entering the National Park had the have chains that fit their wheels in their car.

99% of the time any 4WD or AWD vehicle will not have to fit them.

The NEW law that was attempted to be brought in was that any vehicle without High & Low Range 4WD and locking Diffs would have to put on chains when there was snow on the road. This meant it included all Subaru's etc..... And this was an outrage and thus, has not been introduced.

[Grungle]

Sorry, I posted this orignally, but it looks like SAU took a shit this morning and didn't save my original post:

So I'm heading over to Perisher in a few weeks (from Adelaide).

I know M35s (and espcially the ARXs with their LSDs) shouldn't need chains, but I don't want to be the guy that bins it because "it's AWD, I have INFINITE traction!!!!" and ends up walking his family back down the hill.... I lived in the rockies in Canada and the US for a couple of winters, so i'm down with snow driving - i just don't have as much faith in my 18" Federals as I did in the studded snow tyres I ran on my Delica over there. Plus the little bit of research I have done says if you stay overnight you must carry them on ANY vehicle.

So I'm going to get chains. Does anyone know where you can get them? Do they generally have fixed sizes, or are they fully adjustable? Are there certain types that are better than others? I have stanard ARX springs, so clearance shouldnt be too much of an issue.

Better still - does anyone have a set they don't want anymore?

[GoldZilla]

Try a few here: http://www.google.com.au/search?q=snow+cha...mp;ved=0CBIQpwU

[matty_M35]

4wd/Awd dont have to carry them.. they were talking bout the law coming in. since many awd do struggle when its deep. This is the first season i havn't worked there for 5 years sucks coz i have the stagea now.

If the snow does get bad they can tell any car to put chains on, but most times they would close the road before that happens.

My old GQ patrol that had 37" mudders used to struggle at times.

Having a snow button doesnt always mean Awd, my parents old vectra used to have it, it just lowered the rpm the gear would change and or hold in lower gear to keep the revs low.

I hit the snow the other weekend in the stag, pity there was no snow on the road to test the torque guage!!!!

hope to be going down at the end of aug aswell.

[andy65b]

I hit the snow the other weekend in the stag, pity there was no snow on the road to test the torque guage!!!!

hope to be going down at the end of aug aswell.

I will be down at Perisher on the 29th - 1st septeber and then back down from the 5th for 4 days. Should have a reasonable cover by then...LOL

[pipster11]

i bought some chains from autobarn down here in tassie

$150 to buy the set as opposed to $40 for the day renting them plus the $60 deposit

i haven't had to use them yet but there wasn't much snow on the road up to where we went skiing

the c34 handled it fine on 224/45/18's and autobarn had heaps of different sizes to suit different size wheels

i'm pretty sure these chains will scratch the wheels if i have to use them but that doesn't worry me too much

grab some, whack them in the boot, show them to the man when he asks and head up the mountain, you probably wont need to even think about putting them on

[whitestag]

I was told a few years back when I went that you can get Velcro ones that don't scratch/damage your rims/tyres, but never looked into them

[andy65b]

I was told a few years back when I went that you can get Velcro ones that don't scratch/damage your rims/tyres, but never looked into them

The AutoSock is like that. All fabric, no metal parts. (see link in my first post)

[Angus Smart]

You are correct that you do not fit them but has been the Law since I was a little boy that ALL vehicles entering the National Park had the have chains that fit their wheels in their car.

99% of the time any 4WD or AWD vehicle will not have to fit them.

The NEW law that was attempted to be brought in was that any vehicle without High & Low Range 4WD and locking Diffs would have to put on chains when there was snow on the road. This meant it included all Subaru's etc..... And this was an outrage and thus, has not been introduced.

4WD vehicles

* Although excluded from the requirements to carry and fit chains, the RTA recommends that persons driving 4WD vehicles (which include off-road vehicles, all wheel drive vehicles and sports utilities), except those fitted with winter tyres, carry snow chains and fit them when directed. They will assist you in driving on ice and snow by improving your vehicle’s traction with the slippery road. You may also need them in the event of extreme weather conditions.

As for the stagea/. while down there last year. i came back to my car looking like this car had very very bald tryes i should have been driving on them.. i did get bogged doing skits and was up to the doors in snow.. someone towed me out. snow mode on, continued driving on snow dowm the mountain and everything was fine, was hard to lose traction. and you can feel the 4wd and limited boost.

with decent tyres you'd be fine with tons of snow on the road.

[matty_M35]

last year at perisher i used to finish at 12am many times i found my fourby with snow halfway up the tires.. one night i had the corolla and it was up the the bottom of the bumper, had to dig around it to fit the chains then go back and forth about 20 times before finally getting momentum to get out then it was about a 10 minute drive out of the carpark working the wheel left and right to get traction. basically i was dragging the whole underside through the snow aswell.

it was heaven to reach the road where it is ploughed....

i would much prefer to drive the fourby in the snow when it was bout 10cm deep as opposed to a light cover. when its a light cover there is so much ice way more unpredictable.

in the deep stuff you can drive quite reasonably brake ok and turn good.

[Grungle]

I will be down at Perisher on the 29th - 1st septeber and then back down from the 5th for 4 days. Should have a reasonable cover by then...LOL

I'll be there from the 28th of August to the 1st - if you see a silver ARX in a ditch on the way up please get some photos!

This was what I had in Canada. NEVER got it stuck. We were driving this thing around in 60+cm of snow regularly - it was fantastic. It certainly surprised a few canadians with it's offroad ability.

You're right though matty - fresh, deep snow is easy. We could drive that thing around in RWD all day without any problems after a big dump. It's only when it starts melting/freezing (or it's parked overnight) that you'll start to get problems.

[nickcorr]

That Delica is basically a Pajero with a people mover body on it, so is perfect snow transport...

They do impress people with their ability, as they don't with their looks....

[G7]

I just came back from Perisher- the national park people signaled me in to get checked- I wound down the window and said "its AWD" Ok see ya. Off I went.

[xRHETTx]

Okay just to let everyone know that the laws differ between NSW and Victoria.

In Victoria EVERY car MUST carry snow chains when driving in the designated Alpine areas, even if its a 4WD or AWD or 6WD or whatever. The fine for not having chains, having chains that dont fit or refusing to fit them when instructed is more than $2500.

Quite often in Victoria snow chains must be fitted to 4WD/AWD vehicles. I was at Mt Hotham 2 weekends ago, with my C34 RS4-S, and had to fit them. And so did all the Hiluxes, Prados, and I even saw a Hummer with chains fitted. Having 4WD doesnt help you when you are going down hill, and it wont help much going up a hill if its snowing enough. A mate of mine went off the road on the same weekend in his ute, he had stopped to fit chains, hand brake on, and the car just slid along the snow/ice 10 metres backwards into the Armaco railing.

My chains are just normal Koneig (sp) chains, I dont have much clearance (15mm to suspension) but they seem to work well enough for those few times a year I'm up there. Bought them second hand on ebay for $110, good when 2 nights hire is $55. Didnt scratch the rims at all, but mine have been powdercoated so they are a bit protected.

Photos are of 2 weekends ago after about 40cm of snow fell over sat night and sunday, took me an hour to clear the car of the snow, get it going and get the chains all set. Heading back up next weekend too.

Cheers

Rhett